HE Audit - First Entry

Dear All,

This blog has been set up by a group of students from Newcastle College who are completing an audit of the skills which are taught on various computing courses. The blog is here to allow each student involved to share their own experience and progress throughout the audit.

The audit involves each student performing a review of all the modules on their current course. Each module will be assessed on the top 12 employability skills identified by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Once reviewed, each module will receive recommendations on how each skill should be incorporated or improved.

So far we have asked students to complete an employability skills worksheet, which has asked them to identify the top 5 skills they believe an employer wants, as well as assess whether or not they believe their current course implements these. We have also sent emails to current IT employers to ask which are the top 5 skills they want when looking to employ someone.

We aim to complete a spread sheet, showing how each module fairs up against the 12 employability skills, rating them from 0-3, 0 being not considered, leading up to 3 which is optimally considered. This will give us an overview on the current courses, showing how well they teach the 12 top employability skills. We will then consolidate all results and compare them with the list of skills we acquire from the employers.

This blog will be updated regularly with the progress being made.

This concludes our first entry to the blog.